San Jose State alum Kevin Velo cements first PGA TOUR card

Kevin Velo regained Korn Ferry Tour starts at PGA TOUR Q-School's Final Stage last fall, and his post-round interview that chilly December Monday in northeast Florida suggested that he had turned a corner in a big way. He wasn't just satisfied to get back to the Korn Ferry Tour. He had bigger goals in mind.

Velo has channeled that attitude into a sterling 2024 Korn Ferry Tour campaign, and the reward is 2025 PGA TOUR membership. The San Jose State alum stands No. 9 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List with five events remaining, and he cannot fall outside the top 30 which will secure 2025 PGA TOUR membership at season's end. Hence he is #TOURBound and will be a PGA TOUR rookie in 2025.

"It's wild," said Velo, who has yet to make a PGA TOUR start. "Now that it's locked up, it's a crazy feeling. It's a dream I've been working for, for a while, and to go through the stages of where I've been, it's been an awesome journey."

Velo has notched eight top-25s in 19 starts this season, highlighted by a playoff victory at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard, contested in Bogota, Colombia, in early February. He also added back-to-back T4 finishes in June, at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open, to solidify his top-30 position.

Velo, 26, turned professional in 2020 and found success on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica two years later, notching five top-five finishes in 12 starts to place No. 4 on the season-long Totalplay Cup. That earned him 2023 Korn Ferry Tour status, but he struggled in his rookie season on the circuit with just two top-25s in 25 starts. He finished outside the top 100 on the season-long standings, meaning a return to Q-School's First Stage. He fought through First, Second and Final Stage with grit and resilience, including a tie for 21st at Final Stage to solidify guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2024. He took the baton and ran with it, just as he envisioned.

"Losing your job is one of the hardest things in the world," said Velo after the final round at Q-School's Final Stage, who had trouble sleeping throughout that pivotal week in northeast Florida and one night scrolled YouTube around 3 a.m., watching videos of a guy who unclogs drains for a living.

"I had to take some notes and understand what I did well and what I did not well, and I took that moving forward ... I worked every Monday, which I will not be doing this year. I thought that I hit the ball really well and didn't get rewarded in the right way, because I lost steam at the end of the weeks ... I feel like I have a lot to still learn, but I feel like I've got my body and my mind in a lot better spot."

His performance on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour validates those beliefs, and now he can test his abilities against the game's elite in 2025.

Thirty PGA TOUR cards will be finalized at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, contested Oct. 3-6 at French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course in southern Indiana.

About Kevin Velo

Age: 26
Hometown: Danville, California
Alma mater: San Jose State
Notes: Led team in scoring average in all four collegiate seasons at San Jose State (2015-16 to 2018-19) ... In addition to golf, played four years of soccer at Monte Vista High School in Danville, California ... Claims to be an elite ping-pong player ... Graduated from San Jose State with a degree in business administration, with a marketing concentration ... Writes on his LinkedIn profile, "I pride myself on my work ethic and will continue to hold myself to a very high standard in anything that I pursue."